Grimey: Death Grips

Tuesday June 7, 2011
Townhouse Lounge, Sacramento, California

On Tuesday, June 7, DJ Whores booked dubstep DJs from distant lands like New York City and France. But when the downstairs cleared for an upstairs Death Grips set, for once Sacramento showed some goddamned pride.

Death Grips bears the rumblings of a strange new era for hip-hop–if the genre is even appropriate. Between Death Grips and the teenage riot of Los Angeles’ Odd Future Wolf Gang Kill Them All (OFWGKTA) crew, hip-hop seems to be embracing a DIY and punk mentality that hasn’t been prevalent in the genre since Fab Five Freddie was kicking it with Debbie Harry in the Lower East Side. Devoid of heavy-handed derivatives, Death Grips respectfully appeals to Sacramento and the indie world-at-large’s iTunes playlist without losing an ounce of visceral gnarl. The Ex-Military mixtape is the group’s call to arms through heavy bass warbles, juke break beats and vintage psych-samples from Link Wray and The Castaways. Critics jumped the gun when they hailed New York-based MC Waka Flocka Flame as the first metal god of rap. No one could have predicted Death Grips’ Stefan Burnett, a Kimbo Slice-looking dude from Oak Park, was lurking in the trenches with a deeper-seated metal intent with lyrics, “Dismiss this life/Worship death/Cold blood night of serpent’s breath/Exhaled like spells from the endlessness/In the bottomless wells of emptiness,” over the thunder of Zach Hill’s drums.

The Sunday prior to the Grimey set, Death Grips played a secret show at Press Club, a set that made its way to YouTube in record time. The Grimey announcement was as last-minute as it gets, with most of the curious anticipating a Davis house show as the unveiling of the mysterious Zach Hill project. The cloak was off entirely, as was frontman Stefan Burnett’s shirt as he stalked the stage, like any moment he might snap and start cracking skulls. No one was injured during the set, nor did a full-on mosh pit ever break out. The surprise was the rush to be on top of Death Grips without taking the stage–an instant embrace virtually unheard of for a local act. Burnett’s coined grunt of “Yuh” was mimicked on cue and other times in brief quiet moments, affirming his bark as the group’s battle cry. Sacramento is excited for its locally raised rap beast–enough to shed the cool, shed the cynicism, shed the apathy and get buck for 40 minutes in ToHo. It caught me off guard so much that I’m reluctant to mention it for fear it might backfire and curse the unabashed enthusiasm.

Whether we sustain our buzz in the home front or not, Death Grips is in takeover mode with or without us. This week (June 15), the group performs L.A.’s Low End Theory, a weekly melding of art and music held every Wednesday at The Airliner, a stage that made the careers of DJ Gaslamp Killer and producer/musician Flying Lotus. In the end, if Death Grips maintains an indifference to hype present within the music, it will always have a home in Sacramento. The nihilistic candor on tracks like “I Want It I Need It (Death Heated)” and “Spread Eagle Across the Block” boasts a lifestyle prevalent in Midtown yet to be captured sonically. I, for one, hope this is the beginning of many voice-shot nights shouting “Yuh” to come.

Fat Face inside the new Bows and Arrows

1815 19th Street, Sacramento

I’d exercise caution when saying to your friends, “Get your Fat Face on!” They might take it the wrong way. Preface it by letting them know that it’s actually a good thing and you’re not attacking their winter waistline. Fat Face is the name of Jaymes Luu’s sandwich and gourmet popsicle business that has recently closed shop in Davis and will now be take residence in the new Bows and Arrows space (1815 19th Street, Sacramento). Luu describes the name of the business as a funny term for enjoying really good food, but in very humble way. It’s a term that she and her friends came up with that’s a very fitting definition, considering that Luu’s food is both good and humble.

On the Fat Face website, Luu encourages customers trying her popsicles to be “adventurous” and to “challenge their palates.” This might seem like a disclaimer for the out-there kind of flavors, but who wrote the rules on what a popsicle should be, anyway? Luu has been pushing the boundaries with her frozen confections, and the boundaries have never tasted so good. Among some of her more popular flavors is the Kaffir limeade and avocado, an interesting concoction for the title of “most popular.” Apparently fans of Fat Face have taken the challenge.

Fat Face’s previous location was on L Street in Davis, a small space where she not only served her signature popsicles, but also cranked out delicious sandwiches to boot. Grilled cheese with beer poached figs, smoked salmon, cola braised pork sandwiches or asparagus-filled breakfast “sammies” are some of the fun and sometimes wonky menu items that can be found at Fat Face. Ingredients are seasonal and specials can change on a whim, depending on who Luu has heard a suggestion from that day.

“[I get suggestions from] a lot of people I work with or customers will come up and be like, hey I think you should make this-and-this popsicle,” says Luu. “That will spark me to make new flavors.”

Luu is currently working on a mango and sticky rice popsicle and one of her newest flavors is something she calls the “bacon and egg.” Luu describes it as a “very yolky vanilla custard with a ginger bacon caramel.”

At the new location, Luu plans to extend her menu by playing off of the beer and wine list that Bows and Arrows owners Trisha Rhomberg and Olivia Coelho have been piecing together. The potential for crafting some small plates has sparked an interest for Luu, and she’s already got some ideas in mind.

“I want to have a pickle plate, fun popcorn; I’m trying to have more fun bar food like olives, but figure out how to make that more interesting than just olives,” says Luu.

When Luu decided to collaborate with Rhomberg and Coelho, she was drawn to their commitment to the project and how serious they were about making it all come together. They already had a building locked down, a kitchen in place and agreed to take on the build out. If all that wasn’t appealing enough, Luu also just simply liked what the whole thing was about.

“I appreciate their vision for what they want to do and what they want to bring; a community they want to create with their art stuff and their music,” says Luu.

The feeling was mutual.

“We went to eat lunch at Fat Face in Davis…walked in and loved everything about it. Super simple, sophisticated food that was local, seasonal, farm to table, scrumptious ingredients–really interesting flavors mixed together. The presentation was really humble but it was really good food,” says Coelho.

There’s something about Fat Face that Sacramento just hasn’t seen yet. It’s hard to put a label on and difficult to pigeonhole or compare with another cuisine. With the amount of support that was shown by Sacramento at the first annual Mobile Food Truck Festival, it’s clear that we love walking up to a truck to get something tasty. And wasn’t that idea born from the jingle of the neighborhood ice cream truck or paletero cart? Luu herself was at that festival, conducting a sort of Sacramento dry run, and her line was as long as the rest. Looks like we’re in for a fun summer. Now go get your Fat Face on.

Words by Adam Saake – Photos by Nicholas Wray

Sacramento is home to a large community of artists that continue to thrive with the help of each other as well as the trailblazing efforts of people like Trisha Rhomberg and Olivia Coelho. The 30-something, young business owners partnered in November 2007 to open Bows and Arrows, a vintage fashion store that over the years evolved into a multi-use space. The 17th and L street location was home to many Second Saturday art openings, some of the most amazing yet quietly talked about music shows, Pearl Records vinyl shop, Thunderhorse Vintage, a moped shop, the Junkee shop and most importantly a meeting place for young creatives who had a place to congregate and share ideas. And as much as Rhomberg and Coelho loved their space that they had poured so much of themselves into over the years, these two entrepreneurs were still hungry to expand and do even more. So, on June 4, Rhomberg and Coelho will open an even more ambitious version of Bows and Arrows at a new location at 1815 19th Street in Sacramento.

“We had been enjoying our Second Saturdays, our arts shows and our music shows a lot at our old location. We thought that it would be nice to focus more on the art, have a different building, a nice focused area for an art gallery and be able to serve beer and wine,” says Coelho.

The two began what would be become a tedious, yet invaluable learning experience as they searched for the perfect space to carry out their new and improved vision. Coelho had experience finding buildings, but on a smaller scale, when she opened her first vintage boutique Olipom. She sought out a second building for Olipom after the first building suffered fire damage in 2006. But the amount of blood, sweat and paperwork that was required to get their new space, a charming ivy-covered building located in the R Street corridor, up and off the ground was eye-opening.

“What the problem is, is that there are all of these rules. If a building looks really cool, but it’s in an area where you need to provide parking to the public and there’s no parking then you can’t do it,” explains Coelho.

ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act) requirements along with city codes are very strict when it comes to opening a business like Rhomberg and Coelho’s. It’s not just parking but, for example, how many bathrooms are required and what size they need to be. Even something minute like a .5 percent shift in the grade of their concrete leading into an entrance was a huge expense to correct.

“We thought that people had been using that door for a long time. What’s the big deal? We had to tear out the whole front and re-pour that sidewalk,” says a frustrated Coelho.

It’s not that Rhomberg and Coelho are annoyed that they need to make their new business handicapped accessible, it’s that there are so many requirements; so many road blocks in the way and each one adds more and more money to their tight and dwindling budget.

“You just start burning through your money. You think 80 grand is a lot of money and it’s just not. It’s shit,” says Coelho.

The City of Sacramento has employees that Coelho says are “really sweet people,” it’s just the “rules that are devastating.” The new Bows and Arrows plans to have live shows as well, something they’d be continuing from their previous space. This time around, though, things will be a lot more legitimate and more in tune with how an actual live music venue operates. That means that Bows has applied for an entertainment permit since their occupancy is over 49. These permits aren’t easy to come by, if they are even able to acquire one at all, and they’re expensive: $1,400 a piece and non-refundable. On top of that, the permit requires that two security guards, approved by the Sacramento Police Department, be on duty for all the shows. Again, having security at shows isn’t the issue, it’s the cost associated with those requirements.

“If we have 30 people come, they each pay $3 and we make $90 off the door and we pay $250 out to security…we’re at a loss every time we try and have a show,” says Coelho.

But Rhomberg and Coelho aren’t here to bitch and moan and not do anything about what they don’t agree with. Both owners have made their presence known at Midtown Business Association mixers, Midtown Merchants meetings where Coelho is a board member, and they even sat down and had a beer with Councilman Steve Cohn. After an MBA mixer, Rhomberg and Coelho, along with a group of local movers and shakers all sat down with Cohn at Midtown’s Streets of London.

“He had no idea how hard of a time we’re having trying to showcase local musicians. We’re not busting windows out of places. We’re not these wild and crazy people, but there’s nowhere to have it,” says Rhomberg.

They’re both extremely passionate about not only making some real changes themselves, but also about empowering and inspiring the young artists and small business owners to do the same.

“There are sympathetic ears, but they can’t hear you screaming when you’re at a house party with all of your friends. How is anyone in power supposed to know that there are all these disgruntled young people in town who aren’t up to no good?” says Coelho.

Rhomberg says that things like being able to talk with Cohn, attending the MBA mixers and having their voices be heard are all great opportunities to take some steps forward in the right direction. She fears that if more spaces, like the new Bows and Arrows, which will have a gallery to feature local and emerging artists, don’t begin opening and flourishing more often, then our artists community will find homes elsewhere.

“How are we ever going to have our own creative class if everybody feels they need to leave and go to San Francisco or Portland or Los Angeles to make a living in an arts industry? We have to keep our creative class here. We have to provide them jobs and we have to provide them venues to showcase their talents so people know about them,” says Rhomberg who along with Coelho is also a working visual artist.

June 4 will also be the first gallery opening with a stunner of a show from San Francisco-based artist Hilary Pecis. Pecis recently had a spread in Juxtapoz Magazine, and she’s represented by the exciting Guerrero Gallery located in the San Francisco’s Mission District. Her work is collage constructed from found Internet images, piled and manipulated to form impossible landscapes and designs. Her work will fit in perfectly with everything going on in the new space that Coelho says will be based off of their taste and aesthetic.

“When it really comes down to it, it has to be something that we’re drawn to and inspired by,” says Coelho.

Part of that draw and inspiration is behind the partnership with Jaymes Luu of Fat Face, who will be taking over the café space to do her signature sandwiches and gourmet popsicles. Friend Becky Grunewald, local writer and foodie, took the Bows duo to Davis where Luu was operating inside a very small space. Grunewald wanted to show them what could be done without a hood inside a smaller kitchen, the one similar to the Bows and Arrows kitchen. It turned out to be a serendipitous meeting where the three hit it off immediately.

“We liked her right off the bat and it just seemed like such a nice cohesion. It was like love at first sight,” says Coelho.

In no time Luu was on board and the vision for the new space was complete. The collaboration of Bows and Fat Face will be fruitful no doubt. Rhomberg and Coelho have been working, along with some trusted palates like sommelier Michele Hebert, on assembling a wine and beer list for the café. Delerium Tremens, West Coast IPA and others are among the beers being considered for the list along with four draft beers. With Luu’s food that is packed with unique flavors, you might see some interesting parings taking place.

“I want to do that, and I know Olivia and Trisha want that. I’m definitely going to work toward that,” says Luu.

It all seems like a lot going on: the café, the music venue, the gallery and of course the thing that started it all, the vintage fashion. If local fashionistas are concerned that Rhomberg and Coelho have lost their focus when it comes to the clothes, fear not, because they will be merely focusing their inventory so more shoppers can feel comfortable while browsing the racks.

“There’s a very specific breed of people that…want to see everything they can see. But the majority of people get very overwhelmed…and I feel like in order to make the shopping experience more enjoyable and more intimate, we had to edit the selection,” says Rhomberg.

Whether you’re a hardcore shopper or casual, a beer drinker or prefer wine, a lover of art and music or you’re creative juices flow from food, the new Bows and Arrows has something for you. And when it all boils down, it started with two young creative minds with a passion for all the things they love and a loyalty to the city they live in.

“I want everything. I want to literally, physically surround myself with amazing beer, good music. I want to be sewing and making handmade clothes, I want to look at vintage clothes for inspiration. And I want to show my art and show my friends’ art. I want it all and I want to share it all,” says Rhomberg.

The new Bows and Arrows, located at 1815 19th Street opened June 4, 2011 with an exhibit by Bay Area artist Hilary Pecis.

Tequila Museo Mayahuel
1200 K Street, Sacramento

Words by Adam Saake
Photos by Nicholas Wray

I’ll be the first to admit that when talk of the “revitalization” of Sacramento’s K Street Mall was a popular topic, I was skeptical as to whether or not the one or two establishments carrying all the weight could pull it off. Sure, The Social was a big deal and Ella is, well, Ella. But over the years more and more businesses popped up that were doing really interesting things. I turned from skeptic to believer and now I’m actually rooting for K Street. There are places like Marilyn’s for live music, Café Ambrosia for breakfast, District 30 for nightlife and the list keeps building. Tequila Mueso Mayahuel, the latest addition to the thriving 12th and K block, has me breaking out the pom-poms yet again.

Mayahuel will celebrate its grand opening on Cinco de Mayo (May 5, 2011), but the doors have been open for the past couple weeks; offering a small “teaser” menu and a few selections of tequilas, cocktails and beers. The dining area and bar are also just a glimpse of what Mayahuel will become as finishing touches are made to the relatively large space that will eventually include a lounge and VIP room.

When you arrive, don’t be alarmed if your server doesn’t bring you chips and salsa. It’s not that they don’t have them, it’s that owner Ernesto Delgado wants you to have a different view of what a Mexican restaurant can be.

“We’re actually charging for chips and salsa. In Mexico, they don’t have chips and salsa. They give you bolillo, which is a bread, or they give you other elements. People say, ‘You’re cheap because you don’t want to give away chips and salsa.’ That’s not it. We’re going to use this as a way to introduce new flavors,” says Delgado.

Delgado and staff are passionate people and that makes for a great dining experience. When you hear them speak about the menu, it’s with a tone reminiscent of homesickness. The food is as if you have taken traditional Mexican dishes from Mexico, dishes that have a comfort to them, and prepared them with the finest ingredients and executed thoughtfully by Chef Ramiro Alarcon. For example, a dish like the costilla de puerco con nopales, slow cooked pork ribs in a tomato and chili salsa and grilled nopales (cactus), is a dish that’s very geographically specific in Mexico. Not only are some of the dishes rarely found on menus, but they’re being taken in new directions that will make them even more unique to Mayahuel. The creativity is evident in appetizer plates like the bocaditos chicos, an assortment of six differently constructed bruschetta-esque concoctions. Crunchy slices of bread, tiny corn tortillas or fried chips are topped with ingredients like poblano and queso fresca, nopales and guacamole or shrimp, chipotle sauce and red onions. Alarcon and Delgado want Mayahuel to be about the experience; a focus on flavor and quality and all that makes Mexico shine.

“We want to showcase the tequila, but in the end it’s about Mexico,” says Delgado.

But they are excited about the tequila, and for good reason. The words “smooth” and “tequila” are rarely used in the same sentence. We’re either reaching for the salt and lime or plugging our nose because it’s probably a close cousin of gasoline we’re drinking. What a shame, because like any great spirit that has been carefully crafted, tequila is rich with complex flavor profiles. When you drink the good stuff, you realize you‘ve been thinking about it all wrong. Delgado hopes to turn more people on to these kinds of tequilas and he’ll accomplish that by carrying over a hundred different kinds. The fledging list is limited during their soft opening, but if you venture in before Cinco de Mayo, order some Clase Azul and take your time with it. The Clase Azul, which comes in a gorgeous blue and white bottle, is an example of what’s called a “reposado” which literally translates to “rested.” This tequila has seen a minimum of one year in bourbon oak barrels, which gives the tequila its influences and color. The smell is sweet and the oak barrels give it a velvety vanilla and almond mouth feel that will have you thinking twice about tequila the next time you’re out.

And it doesn’t end with tequila at the bar. Mayahuel’s beer selection offers some of the standard Mexican beers like Pacifico and Modelo on draft, but bottles will include Victoria and Corona Familiar that aren’t commonly found at most Mexican restaurants here in Sacramento. The Corona Familiar is large format bottle and is a beer that in Mexico they call “caguama,” which is slang for turtle and refers to the size and shape of the bottle. The glass is darker which “holds the beer better and lets in less light,” which can affect the taste and quality of the beer. As for the Victoria, aside from it being one of the more popular beers of Mexico City, my server explained, it’s the oldest bottled beer of Mexico and quite delicious.

Mayahuel definitely has their best foot forward as they tie up the loose ends and look forward to their grand opening in May. Sacramento’s taste buds are clearly getting smarter, and with that comes the opportunity for restaurants like Delgado’s to succeed. When those doors open next month, step inside and find one more reason to root for K Street. Salud!

Ganja Goodies sets the bar

Words Adam Saake – Photos Nicholas Wray

Red velvet cupcakes, homemade candy bars, snicker doodles and chewy caramel candies…sounds delicious right? Well there’s something special baked into each and every one of Jessie Degooyer’s delicious assortment of treats–high-grade cannabis. Degooyer is the owner and founder of Ganja Goodies, a Sacramento baking company that specializes in cannabis treats. Just a year old now, and what started with one solitary item, Degooyer has worked to include over 30 different menu items and she is still expanding. You won’t find Degooyer walking around a Dead concert with a wicker basket full of foil-wrapped brownies. These are gourmet baked goods, individually packaged, that find their way into many of the local dispensaries. There’s been a lot of legwork getting Ganja Goodies to where it is today, but Degooyer wants all her ducks in row. She’s as legit as it gets and she’s made real sure of that.

“I’m a certified food handler and the kitchen that I rent is health and safety approved. So it’s a fully licensed commercial kitchen. I would like to set the bar. I would like to be as 100 percent legit as I can. From the ground up, exactly the right way,” says Degooyer, a retired math teacher-turned-cannabis cook who grew up baking in the kitchen with her mother on Saturday mornings. A lot of the recipes are based on the same recipes she baked as a child, mixed with patient suggestions. Degooyer says she’s very “open to suggestions,” and if patients’ needs aren’t being met, she’s anxious to give it a try. The passion behind the product is all there. Degooyer speaks with enthusiasm when she talks about her menu and how she loves creating something new that will get patients excited. The teacher in her shines through, so much so that it’s easy to imagine a classroom full of high school algebra students gazing and crooning at their new favorite instructor. And as much as she loved teaching, there was a different calling for her.

“Quitting teaching was a huge decision to make,” says Degooyer. “I tried to return to teaching this past fall, after a summer of baking and selling Ganja Goodies. But I didn’t last two weeks. My soul was calling me to bake and provide treats to patients.”

So why cannabis baking, you might ask? Why not a cupcake shop or a bakery? What led Degooyer to cannabis baking was her own necessity for it as a patient.

“I had some health problems and two major abdominal surgeries six months apart. Smoking helped with the pain but the coughing killed my scars and wounds on my tummy. So, edibles were the way to go,” explains Degooyer.

Quality and consistency are very important to Degooyer, all the way from the kind of chocolate she uses to whom she purchases cannabis from. She works with the same three growers, one of which is her husband, to ensure that the cannabis that goes into each item will provide the same dose of medication each time.

“Trying to expand beyond that, from my experience, you don’t always get the quality you’re looking for and I can’t take that risk with the patients,” says Degooyer.

This is very important considering the fact that we are talking about medicine here. You wouldn’t want to a take a pill prescribed by your doctor and not know the dosage of the pill each time. Same thing goes for Degooyer’s Ganja Goodies. They come in three different strengths: 1.5 grams, 3 grams or 4 grams per serving and you can be sure that you’ll get the same result each time.

It’s truly amazing how delicious the Ganja Goodies are, considering that taste is a huge issue when it comes to baking with cannabis. For starters, cannabis has a strong flavor that is recognizable in the final product and could, if used incorrectly, screw with a lot of the other flavors. Cooking that is done with hash oil often produces this result, so Degooyer opted to only use butter that has gone through a multiple-step, ice extraction process that purifies the butter and cuts down on the “pot” aftertaste.

“I’m really proud of these recipes. I love that it’s consistent, that it’s potent and that it’s delicious. I don’t sacrifice taste for potency. I’m reaching a point now where I’m making butter constantly. I have people who make butter for me, and we are just blowing through it,” says Degooyer.

That means business is good. Just recently, Degooyer expanded to an even larger kitchen than where she was before and she and her team outgrew it in less than two weeks. Now, Degooyer is expanding again and on the lookout for a kitchen that can handle a growing baking business. Besides all the cookies and caramels, there are plans in the works to create a spaghetti sauce as well. In fact, Degooyer hosts cannabis cooking classes where she discusses why eating cannabis is safe and effective and teaches the proper measuring of butter for each recipe. But what she gets the most excited about is something that she calls a “Better Than a Snickers Bar.” It’s a decadent candy bar made with milk chocolate and layered with chewy nougat that’s mixed with peanuts.

“One of my immediate goals is to expand upon an entire line of candy bars. The Butterfinger and then the Almond Joy,” says Degooyer.

No matter what it is you are looking for in life, there often tends to be an upper echelon that soars above the rest. Maybe even reinvent the way that you think about it in the first place. Gourmet corn dogs, diamond-encrusted iPods, a bottle of Chateau Haut-Brion red wine; you name it and somebody has put a lot of time in to making one better and more extravagant than it started out. Ganja Goodies has adopted this philosophy by taking something like ganja food and creating a product that transcends stereotypes and excites the taste buds, all while serving a medicinal purpose. Next time you’re at the dispensary, keep your eyes peeled for Ganja Goodies.

Ganja Goodies can be found at the following local dispensaries: The Green Temple, El Camino Wellness, One Solution, The Reserve, Another Choice and Unity Non-Profit. For more info, go to Ganjagoodiescafe.com.